


Welcome to Hell

by Thinking of Theo (mjsakurea)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Mentions of Suicide, but he comes back as a demon, so it doesn't really count
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-19 06:28:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11891973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mjsakurea/pseuds/Thinking%20of%20Theo
Summary: Theo accidentally murders his entire family and then kills himself. After winding up in Hell, the Devil offers Theo a job: get Liam Dunbar to kill himself. The only problem, Theo finds himself becoming attracted to his target. Based on the animated YouTube video "Welcome to Hell."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction is based on the animated YouTube video "Welcome to Hell." I would highly recommend watching the video before you read this if you have not seen it already. Trust me, you will not regret watching it, that video is gold.

 

The full moon illuminated the quiet cemetery. The sound of a shovel hitting dirt was the only sound that interrupted the crickets chirping. Theo was sweating as he continued to dig. He had been digging for some time now. He was exhausted, but he knew it would be all over soon.

After digging for hours, Theo had successfully made four deep holes in the ground. Without wasting any time, Theo picked up three bodies, one after the other, and placed them in the first three holes.  Then he picked up his shovel again, and covered the bodies with dirt. Feeling sentimental, Theo found four rocks on the ground and used his knife to carve into them. He placed one at the head of each grave. The rocks read, “Mom, Dad, Tara, Me.”

He sat on the ground in front of the only empty grave left. He felt bad for murdering his entire family. He tried to convince himself that it was just an accident; the full moon always made him a little crazy. He had been sleeping peacefully, but when he woke up, he was covered in blood and his whole family was dead. Theo originally wanted to go to the police, but he knew they would not believe that it was an accident. It did not take him long to make up his mind on what he had to do. He was going to kill himself. Theo was an atheist, so he did not believe Heaven or Hell existed. He believed that if he killed himself, he would just cease to exist, which Theo thought was a better alternative to spending the rest of his life in prison.

Theo turned his knife in his hand, seeing his own reflection in it. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he stabbed the knife into his chest. He felt himself falling backwards into the grave he had just dug before everything faded to black.

Slowly, Theo opened his eyes. He was lying on his back. All he could see was white light. He squinted at the brightness before his eyes adjusted. He did not know where he was. He seemed to remember stabbing himself. “Had that just been a dream?” he wondered. Suddenly, Theo saw a face appear above him.

“Welcome to Hell. Would you like a hand?” the man said, offering Theo his hand. He was tall and slender, and was wearing a nice suit. He had bright red hair, which made him look like he had flames covering his head.

“Sure, thanks” Theo said hesitantly. He grabbed the man’s hand and he pulled him to his feet with ease.

“This is my office, have a seat,” the man said, gesturing to an office chair in front of a desk. Theo sat there as the man flipped through some files on his desk. He looked around and took in his surroundings. The man had said this was Hell. However, it did not look like the fiery depictions of Hell that Theo was used to seeing. If this actually was Hell, then the man must be the Devil. He also did not look like the normal depictions of the Devil. Before Theo’s thoughts could go any further, the man spoke.

“Do you know why you’re here, Mr. Raeken?” he asked, looking up from the file in his hand.

Theo chuckled quietly. He felt like he was being interviewed by the police, not by the Devil himself, if he even was the Devil, Theo was still skeptical. “Let me guess, it’s because I killed my family and then myself. If this really is Hell, why am I not being tortured as we speak, suffering for all eternity?” Theo said dramatically.

“Don’t sound so desperate, kid. See, I’m currently in the process of having Hell renovated. Everyone is off the hook right now. The only one suffering is me! Truth is, I could use some help around here. So, I’d like to make you an offer.”

“Like a deal with the Devil?”

“Like a job offer. I already have your soul, you think I’m going to challenge to a fiddling contest or something? Anyways, I’m offering you this job because you remind me of myself, Theo. Can I call you Theo?”

Theo did not get a chance to respond before the Devil started talking again.

“By the way, please call me Mephistopheles. So, about this job offer. This demonary position I’m about to offer you is kind of a big deal. You’ll be assigned to a human counterpart. It is your job to haunt, torment, pester, and be a general nuisance to this human until eventually he, you know, punches his own ticket. We may be under construction but we still have a quota to reach.”

Theo sat pondering Mephistopheles’ offer for a moment. “So, I’d get to kill people?”

“Not exactly, you get to help people kill themselves.”

“And if I decline your offer?”

“You won’t,” the Devil said confidently.

Theo smirked. “You got me there,” he said. Mephistopheles handed Theo a file. He continued to explain the details of the job, but Theo tuned him out and focused on the file in his hands. Flipping it open, he saw a picture of a boy. Next to his picture was a bunch of information about him.

_Name: Liam Dunbar,_

_Age: Teen,_

_Eyes: Blue,_

_Hair: Brown,_

_Likes: Lacrosse,_

_Dislikes: Most everything else,_

_Personality: IED._

After skimming through the information on the file, Theo looked closer at the picture of Liam. Theo smiled slightly. “This kid is actually kinda cute,” he thought. He frowned when he remembered that he was supposed to get this kid to kill himself, not make friends with him. Either way, Theo thought it would be a fun job.

 

* * *

 

It was early Monday morning, and Theo’s first day on the job. He was currently standing next to Liam while Liam was waiting for the bus to arrive. When it pulled to a stop next to them, Liam got on it and Theo went to follow. The doors on the bus closed before Theo could get on, but he was shocked to find out that he could pass through the closed doors. Theo wondered if he was a ghost or a demon with the ability to walk through walls and everything.

Theo found where Liam was sitting and sat next to him.

Suddenly, Theo heard a voice from behind him.

“Hey, kid.”

Theo turned and saw that it was Mephistopheles.

“He can see me, right?” Theo asked his new boss, so to speak.

“He can, everyone else can’t,” he replied.

“Can he see you?”

“Nope.”

“Can he hear you?”

“No, you’re talking to yourself.”

“Great,” Theo said. Looking over at Liam he saw that he was wearing headphones.

“Doesn’t matter, he’s wearing headphones anyway,” He said looking back at where the Devil was sitting only to see that he had disappeared. Theo groaned. He wondered how often his new boss would randomly drop by.

It did not take long for the school bus to arrive at Beacon Hills High School. Once there, Theo continued to follow Liam around everywhere he went. He decided to stay in the shadows for the day to learn as much about Liam as he could.

By the end of the day, Theo had learned a lot about Liam. His two best friends in his class were Mason and Corey, but he was also friends with some older kids, too. He played lacrosse, and was actually very good at it, Theo was impressed. Overall, Theo felt like he had had a productive day. He had already started forming plans on how he was going to manipulate this kid into killing himself. He would put his plans into action starting tomorrow. Theo felt like he should do some sort of evil, movie-villain laugh, but he refrained from that.

“Tomorrow is going to be a good day,” Theo said to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: this story doesn't really follow the normal Teen Wolf timeline. I honestly don't know where exactly it fits in. I'm using Miss Martin as the principal of BHHS in this chapter (because I don't know the names of any former principals) and Miss Monroe as the guidance counselor (Also because I cannot remember the names of any previous guidance counselors. However, she is not an evil hunter in this story, she's just a normal guidance counselor).

 Waiting at the bus stop, Liam hoped it would be an uneventful day. He thought about the events of the day before. There had been a kid following him the entire day at school. He had no idea who he was, but he looked oddly familiar. The kid did not say a word to him the entire day. Liam wanted to ask him what his deal was, but he decided to just ignore him instead. He hoped whoever was following him yesterday would leave him alone today.

Liam spoke too soon. To his dismay, the same person that was following him the day before appeared next to him at the bus stop. Liam just sighed and decided to ignore the stranger again.

When he got to school, Liam met up with his friends Mason and Corey. He was surprised that they never mentioned anything about his shadow.

“Ugh, this dude’s been following me since yesterday. I don’t know what to do about him, he’s starting to creep me out,” he whispered to his friends.

“Is he still following you now? I don’t see anyone suspicious. You’re probably just paranoid,” Mason responded.

“Yes, he’s still following me! He’s standing right over there,” Liam said, trying to gesture at the stranger without being too obvious. Mason and Corey both looked at where Liam had gestured. “So much for being subtle,” Liam thought.

“Liam, there’s no one there,” Corey said.

“Yeah, I don’t see anyone either,” Mason said.

“What? Are you guys blind? How do you not see him? he just waved at us,” Liam said.

“You’re going crazy, man. There’s no one there,” Mason said.

“Yeah, it must have just been my imagination,” Liam said and laughed awkwardly. “We should head to class. Talk to you guys later.”

“Yeah, see you later,” Mason said. As Mason was walking away he turned back towards Liam and said, “Oh hey, I almost forgot, there’s supposed to be some kind of student address in the gym right before lunch, everyone is required to be there.”

“Oh, right, I’ll be there. Thanks for reminding me,” Liam said, heading off to his first class, history.

Getting to class, Liam decided to sit at a desk at the back of the classroom. His shadow followed him and sat next to him in the very back. After the bell rang, the teacher turned off the lights and put in a movie about one of the world wars. Liam was not paying any attention so he had no idea which one they were studying, at the moment. Normally, Liam would use this opportunity to take a nap in class, but instead, he decided he would try to get some answers from his shadow.

“What’s your deal? Why do you keep following me? It’s creeping me out. Who the hell are you anyway?” Liam said as quietly as he could.

“You finally said something. I was getting tired of the silent treatment. My name’s Theo. I’m just doing my job, nothing creepy about it.”

“Your job? Are you seriously saying your job involves stalking random teenagers?”

“it’s a little more complicated than that, but, more or less, yes, it is my job to stalk you, Liam.”

“What kind of sick job is that?” Liam said a little bit louder than he intended.

“Mr. Dunbar, as much as I’m sure you enjoy talking to yourself back there, I’m going to need you to keep it down and focus on the movie,” the teacher said.

“Sorry, won’t happen again,” Liam responded. Theo started laughing uncontrollably next to him, yet the teacher did not tell him to be quiet. Liam did not understand what was going on. It seemed like no one could see or hear Theo except for him. He wondered if it was all some sort of elaborate joke.

“I’ll leave you alone to focus on the movie. See you at that meeting in the gym or whatever your friend was talking about, I’m sure it’ll be important,” Theo said before walking out of the classroom. The teacher did not even glance at Theo as he left, which just added to Liam’s confusion. Even without Theo distracting him, Liam could not focus on the movie he was supposed to be watching in class. It seemed like Liam would not see the mysterious Theo until the school meeting before lunch. Liam did not know if he was glad to be rid of his stalker until then or just more anxious for this meeting.

Several hours passed, and it was finally time for the student address. All the high school students trickled into the gym and sat on the bleachers. In the middle of the gym was the principal, Miss Martin, in front of a microphone. With her was the school guidance counselor, Miss Monroe. Liam found Mason and Corey and sat next to them on the bleachers, climbing several rows of seats to get up to them. Liam scanned the crowd for Theo. He spotted him standing in front of the bleachers towards Liam’s right side. When Theo caught Liam looking at him, he waved. Liam chose to ignore him instead of waving back.

After everyone had piled into the gym, the principal cleared her throat and tapped on the microphone to get everyone’s attention.

“Good morning, students. I’m sure you’re curious as to why I have gathered you all here today. We’re here to discuss a serious matter with you all. As you probably already figured out, Theo Raeken, a student here committed suicide just a few days ago.”

Liam’s eyes darted to Theo, still standing in front of the bleachers. Theo winked at Liam when he noticed him staring. Liam turned his attention back to the principal.

“I know many of you are shocked and saddened by this sudden loss.”

“Saddened? Yeah right. That kid was a freak. I’m glad he’s gone,” a girl right behind Liam whispered to her friends.

“Same. He was in my class. He was so weird. He deserved to die,” another girl whispered.

“Did you guys hear the full story? He didn’t just kill himself, he killed his whole family in their sleep. What a sicko, I hope he’s rotting in Hell,” a guy behind Liam added.

The whispers quieted down as the guidance counselor took the microphone from the principal.

“We just want you all to know that if you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, you can talk to me or any of the faculty here. We’re here for you. We will do anything in our power to make sure another tragedy like this does not happen again. And if any friends of Theo are having a hard time coping with his death, you can come talk to me whenever you need to,” the counselor said.

“Thank you, Miss Monroe. Like she said, all the faculty at Beacon Hills High School are here for you if you’re dealing with suicidal thoughts or depression. Please come talk to us if you need to. Thank you. You’re dismissed,” Miss Martin said as the bell for lunch rang. The students all shuffled out and headed to lunch. However, Liam had an important errand to run before he could join his friends in the lunchroom.

Before long, Liam reached the library. His shadow was back to following him. Liam scanned the shelves and found what he was looking for: the yearbooks. Picking up last year’s yearbook, he flipped through the pages hastily. The girl behind him had said that Theo was in her class, and Liam was pretty sure that girl was one year above him, so he started there. He had to find out if this Theo Raeken that had committed suicide was the same Theo that had been following him around. Liam’s question was answered as he found the entry for _Raeken, Theodore_ in the yearbook. Although the picture was from a year ago, Liam could clearly tell that it was the same Theo. All the pieces fit together in Liam’s head. Now it made sense to Liam why no one could see or hear Theo, and why Theo looked slightly familiar to Liam.

“You figure it out yet, genius?” Theo said from behind Liam.

“So, you’re a ghost?” Liam said, turning to Theo.

“Demon, actually! But, it was a good guess. And it’s my job to get you to kill yourself. So, how about you do me a favor and end it all right now.”


	3. Chapter 3

“That’s sick! I’m not going to just kill myself because someone told me to,” Liam said angrily.

“Oh well, it was worth a shot. Just so you know, I won’t go away until you die, so you might be stuck with me for a while with that attitude,” Theo said.

“Oh, joy,” Liam said with a groan. He put the yearbook away and went to go join his friends for lunch.

“Liam, you’re back. Why did you just randomly disappear like that?”

“Umm, I realized I was missing an important book so I had to go look for it,” Liam said and chuckled nervously.

Mason and Corey looked at Liam suspiciously, but then quickly went back to their previous conversation. Liam was glad that they bought his lie about where he was. He knew his friends would never believe him if he said what was really going on. They already thought he was crazy after trying to point out Theo to them earlier in the morning. Liam would have to keep the fact that there was an invisible demon trying to kill him a secret, lest they throw him in Eichen House. That place gave Liam the chills. He quickly pushed all thoughts of the local mental institution out of his mind and began eating his lunch.

The rest of the day passed by relatively uneventful. Theo had been trying to distract Liam for the entire day, but Liam just tried to zone him out. As much as he tried to tune out Theo’s voice, he was starting to get on Liam’s nerves. By the time the school day ended, Liam was relieved. There was no lacrosse practice that night so Liam could go straight home. He was irritated to find that his shadow was following him home. After getting off the bus, Liam practically ran to his front door, opening it and closing it behind as fast as he could. He leaned against the door with a sigh. He did not have long to relax, however, before a voice interrupted the silence.

“You know I can get into your house whenever I want, right? I may not be a ghost, but I can still walk through walls,” Theo said with a smirk.

Liam groaned loudly. “I hate my life.”

“Great, so you should just kill yourself then,” Theo said enthusiastically.

“Not going to happen, you jerk,” Liam said before rushing to his room, sitting at his desk, and putting headphones on to drown out Theo’s voice. Normally people complained about the voices inside their head, Liam, however, was more annoyed by the voice outside of his head, also known as Theo. Now Liam could tell why Theo’s old classmates disliked him so much. He thought back to everything he overheard at the student address earlier. He had been so distracted by trying to figure out who Theo was that he almost forgot what the other students were whispering about Theo.

Liam took off his headphones and turned his desk chair around to face Theo.

“Hey, is it true you killed your family?” Liam asked. Theo went completely mute at the question. Finally finding a way to get Theo to shut up, Liam kept going. “I heard a few of your old classmates talking about it. That’s messed up, dude. No wonder you’re a demon now, sounds like you were pretty demonic when you were alive, too. What kind of parents did you have for you to end up this psychopathic? Were you just a whole family of murderers?” Liam could tell Theo was furious. His head was down, his fists were clenched, and he was visibly shaking. Liam figured it might not be a good idea to enrage a demon, but he was already past the point of no return. Liam’s own anger flared up as he got up and stood face to face with Theo. “I guess it’s a good thing they’re all dead then. If they were all like you, they deserved it.”

“Shut up! Just shut up! You don’t know anything about them! They didn’t deserve to die. It was an accident,” Theo yelled, his voice and face producing a palpable aura of rage. However, almost immediately after he finished his sentence, Theo’s face fell and his anger was replaced with sadness. “They didn’t deserve to die. It was an accident. It’s all my fault. I’m sorry. They didn’t deserve to die. They’d still be alive if it wasn’t for me. Why did this happen? It was just an accident. I’m sorry. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry, I didn’t, my fault, I’m sorry, I can’t, they’re dead, I’m sorry, it was an accident,” Theo rambled on and on. At this point he was mumbling incoherently.

Liam was shocked to see a demon so distraught. Theo was shaking with his head hanging. His hair was covering most of his face. Liam felt guilty as it was mostly his fault for making Theo so upset. He wanted to comfort his shadow somehow, but he was not sure how to comfort a demon. He tried placing a hand on his shoulder, but his hand passed through Theo’s arm like he was not even there at all.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said, I was just trying to provoke you. It was stupid of me, I’m sorry. I know your family didn’t deserve to die. You said it was an accident?” Liam said.

It took a minute for Theo to compose himself before answering Liam. Even though he was mostly recovered from the apparent panic attack, Theo was still sniffling.

“Yeah. I was sleeping and when I woke up, they were all dead and I was covered in blood. You’re right, I am a psycho,” Theo said solemnly.

“Look, you’re not a psycho and I’m sorry I called you one. It was just an accident, like you said. It’s not your fault. I’m sure they would understand,” Liam said. Theo nodded slightly, but was still hanging his head.

“Tell me about them.”

“What?”

“Tell me about your family. Did you have any siblings? What were they like? Do you have any favorite memories?” Liam asked. He sat back down on his desk chair, and Theo slowly sat on Liam’s bed.

“I had an older sister, Tara. She was so smart, and she knew it. She was always better than me at everything. We could make anything into a competition. We fought over the stupidest of things. I don’t know how Mom and Dad kept up with us. We were a pain in the ass,” Theo said and chuckled before continuing. “Mom never liked to see us fight, but Dad always encouraged a bit of sibling rivalry. I remember one time when I was younger, I got into a fight with Tara at school and we beat each other up pretty bad. We got sent to the principal’s office and they called my parents. When my dad saw us with bloody noses and bruises, he started laughing hysterically. Mom was so mad at him. She thought he was encouraging us. I don’t even remember what started the fight, I just remember him thinking it was the funniest thing. I wish I could go back. We really take family for granted, don’t we? I miss them.”

Liam sat silently for a minute before jumping to his feet. “Let’s go see them, then.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We should visit their graves. We probably missed the funeral, but we can still pay our respects. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to find out where they were buried, unless you already know where they are?”

“Yeah, I might know.”

“Great. Let’s go. I’ll drive and you can just tell me where to go,” Liam said enthusiastically.

Theo pondered the idea for a minute. “Okay, yeah, I’d like to do that,” Theo said and smiled. Theo followed Liam out to his car and floated into the passenger seat. Theo tried to put his seatbelt on out of habit, but it passed right through his stomach and hit the seat behind him. Liam burst out laughing at the surprised look on Theo’s face. After composing himself, Liam buckled his own seatbelt and drove off. Theo started directing him towards the cemetery that he had buried his family in. Liam decided to make a quick stop instead of following Theo’s directions.

“I think you made a wrong turn,” Theo said.

“I know where I’m going, be patient.”

Theo huffed in response, but did not protest. They soon pulled up in front of a store.

“Stay here,” Liam commanded Theo before exiting the car and going into the store. He came out a few minutes later with a bag, however, Theo could not tell what was in it.

“Okay, sorry about that. No more detours. Will you please tell me where to go again?”

Theo resumed the role of GPS and they continued their journey. It did not take them long to reach the cemetery. Theo did not know what to expect when he got there. He did not know if someone had moved the bodies or if they were still in the same place as he had buried them. He hoped that someone at least put dirt over his own body since he could not do it himself with the whole being dead thing.

Even if the bodies were not still there, he led Liam over to the empty corner of the cemetery where he buried his family. It did not take Theo long to locate the large tree that the graves were under. Once they reached the spot, Theo saw that his family’s gravesites had not been touched, however, luckily, his grave had been filled in with dirt. The only other difference was that there was now yellow crime-scene tape cording off the area. Theo smiled slightly when he saw that the four rocks he had carved were still located at the head of each grave. Both boys stood there silently for a few minutes before Liam reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a bouquet of flowers. Liam separated the bouquet into four—relatively even—sections and carefully placed them on each of the graves, while being careful not to touch the yellow tape.

Theo was stunned. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open as he watched Liam. He really did not understand this kid. He did not understand how he could show such kindness to a demon who had murdered his entire family and was now trying to get Liam to kill himself. Even after Liam was done distributing the flowers, Theo continued to stare at him in awe. Liam snapped Theo out of his trace by speaking suddenly.

“Mr. and Mrs. Raeken, Tara, I’m a friend of Theo’s. I just wanted to say that Theo is sorry for accidently killing you. He really didn’t mean it, it was just an accident. He feels really bad about it, so I hope that you can forgive him. I also might have called you all psychopaths, so please forgive me, as well,” Liam said. They stood in silence for a few minutes after Liam gave his speech. Theo finally broke the silence.

“Thank you,” Theo said so quietly that Liam almost did not hear him. Liam just turned to Theo and smiled.

“It’s getting late, we should head back,” Liam said. Theo just nodded and followed him to his car. Neither of them said a word as they drove back to Liam’s house.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been over a month since Theo started haunting Liam. Theo had not made any progress with his original goal. He was no closer to getting Liam to kill himself than he was a month ago. He honestly did not mind, though. Over the past month, things had changed between the two. At the beginning, they were always fighting, bickering, and generally annoying each other. However, as time went on, they started having normal conversations and stopped being hostile towards each other. Theo felt like he actually had a friend for once in his life. He knew that making friends with the person he was supposed to kill was a bad idea, but he could not do anything about it. There was just something about Liam that made Theo melt. Part of it was that Liam treated Theo like an actual person instead of the demon he was. To Liam, Theo was just a normal friend.

On days that the weather was nice, Liam and Theo started walking home from school together instead of taking the bus; it gave them time to talk freely without anyone thinking Liam was crazy. Theo wished he was not dead so that he could talk to Liam all the time without making Liam look delusional. Theo sometimes wondered what his life would be like if he never killed his family and himself over a month ago. Even though he had attended the same school as Liam, he was not in the same class and therefore never interacted with him. Theo did not know if he would have ever gotten to know Liam if he was still alive. Theo’s mind was filled with those thoughts as he and Liam were walking home from school together yet again. Liam was rambling on about some movie he loved and Theo honestly had no idea what he was talking about. Even though he had no idea what was going on, Theo still enjoyed listening to Liam talk. Theo noticed that whenever Liam talked about something he was passionate about, he gestured wildly with his hands. Theo was always entertained by watching the way Liam’s hands and arms moved in a conversation.

“Hey. Hey, Theo, snap out of it,” Liam said when he noticed that Theo was vacantly staring at him.

Theo blinked a couple times and focused his mind on the present. “What’s up?”

“You were staring at me and smiling. It’s creeping me out.”

“So, it’s a crime to smile? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I like your smile. Wait, that sounded weird. I mean, it’s not like I’m bothered by it, I just, umm, you know what, never mind,” Liam said. If Theo looked closely, it almost looked like Liam was blushing.

After that conversation, Theo and Liam walked in silence all the way to Liam’s house. Once they got there, Liam said he had a lot of homework to work on and that he did not want Theo to distract him. He went to his room and immediately put on headphones and started working on his homework. Theo, not wanting to bother Liam but also feeling bored, started floating into different rooms in the house. It felt good to explore since he had really only ever been in Liam’s room. When he reached the kitchen, he saw his boss leaning against a wall.

“So, how long has it been, Theo? A day, a month, a week?” Mephistopheles asked.

“I, Umm, I, umm.” Theo said nervously.

“No, really, the concept of time is something you people made up, I really can’t wrap my head around it.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I just wanted to check up on you to make sure you were doing alright. You seem to be taking your sweet time with this one, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s been kinda hard.”

“So, you’re not cut out for it. Is that what you’re saying?”

“No.”

“So, you’re stalling because you like the guy?”

“No way, of course not!”

“Then what?”

“He doesn’t even care. Nothing I say or do affects him. He just ignores me most of the time. It’s annoying.”

“Why are you getting so bent out of shape about this? It’s not like there’s a deadline. I mean, you know, it just has to happen eventually.”

“What happens to him if—I mean, when—I get him to do it?”

“Well, we’re going to need somebody to alphabetize the Hall of Crippling Phobias for the rest of eternity. Hey, he doesn’t have a fear of alphabetizing, does he? That would be so good!”

“But, what if I can’t get him to do it?”

“Well, then you’re fired.”

“Oh.”

“Well, see you later, Theo,” the Devil said before disappearing.

After the surprise visit from his boss, Theo returned to feeling bored. Not knowing what else to do to relieve his boredom, Theo went back to Liam’s room. He was still studying diligently. Theo did not want to distract him, so he silently floated around the room, checking out Liam’s belongings. Theo noticed an odd-looking book sitting on Liam’s bedside table. His curiosity getting the best of him, he picked it up. On the first page, there was a short note written in elegant cursive handwriting.

_To Liam,_

_From Hayden,_

_Happy birthday to the best boyfriend ever._

Theo chuckled at the cheesiness. He flipped through the book and saw that it was a scrapbook with pictures of Liam and a girl Theo had never seen before. He figured the girl was the Hayden that made the scrapbook. He was busy scanning through it when Liam turned around in his desk chair and saw him. Theo noticed him turn around and held up the book to him.

“Is this your girlfriend?”

“Hey, give me that. Who gave you permission to dig through my stuff?” Liam got up and yanked the book out of Theo’s hands and went back to his desk. Liam did not notice, but when he grabbed the book, a piece of paper fell out of it. However, Theo noticed. He picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. It was a letter. Theo read to whole thing quickly, before Liam noticed he had it. Theo laughed out loud when he finished it.

“So, that’s why you’re so sensitive about that book,” Theo said.

Liam took his headphones off and turned his chair around. “What?”

“I was wrong, she’s not your girlfriend. She _was_ your girlfriend.”

Liam noticed the letter in Theo’s hand and got up and snatched it away as quickly as he had with the scrapbook. “That’s none of your business!” Liam shouted at him while still standing face to face with Theo.

“Must have been a recent breakup then, for you to be this bitter about it. She moved away, huh? If I was her, I’d move as far away from you as I could, too.”

“Shut up!” Liam shouted and threw his fist at Theo. However, his punch did not connect, but instead went right through Theo. Theo just laughed at Liam as he tried to punch him again and again.

“All this pain over one stupid girl, if you killed yourself, it would all go away. That would be one way to make sure Hayden never forgets about you. She would always remember the boy who killed himself because of her. You don’t want her to forget about you, do you? She probably already has forgotten all about you. Probably already moved on to someone less likely to punch her in the face,” Theo said as he was pointlessly evading Liam’s fists.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Liam kept repeating.

Liam was out of breath by the time he finished attacking the air.

“That all you got?” Theo said mockingly. Liam gave him a death glare. “Well, I should probably get going. See you tomorrow, or not.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Darn it, you’re still here. What’s the matter? A little death never killed anyone,” Theo said.

Theo was sitting in class with Liam for what felt like the hundredth time. Liam seemed to have blocked out Theo from his mind because every attempt Theo made to get Liam’s attention was ignored. Liam was probably still mad at Theo for what he said about Hayden leaving him. Theo realized now that he had crossed a line. He deserved to be ignored by Liam. At that point, Theo stopped trying and just sat silently with his head resting on the palm of his right hand, elbow supported by the desk.

He was absentmindedly listening to the teacher until he saw a familiar red-headed figure wave at him through an outside window. Theo could tell that his boss wanted to speak to him, but he wanted to speak to Theo alone. Normally, Mephistopheles would have conversations with Theo in front of Liam. His boss probably enjoyed the confused way Liam would look at Theo as he appeared to be talking to himself, since Liam could not see or hear the Devil. Theo guessed that, this time, his boss did not want Liam to listen in on the conversation, even if he could only hear half of it.

Reluctantly, Theo walked over to the window and passed through it to get outside. Theo had to admit, there were perks to being a demon. His favorite perk being that he could pass through walls and other solid objects.

“What do you want?” Theo asked Mephistopheles grumpily.

“What’s with you? Is your boyfriend ignoring you again?”

“Shut up. He’s not my boyfriend. Seriously, what do you want?”

“Sorry, just messing with you. Anyway, I know I said before that there’s not a deadline, but, I changed my mind. You’ve gotten way too attached to this guy. I’m giving you a month. If he hasn’t kicked the bucket by then, you’re fired. So, I’d suggest you speed things up a notch unless you want to alphabetize the Hall of Crippling Phobias in his place. One month, got it?” the Devil said before disappearing without a trace.

Theo was stunned into silence. He could not believe that he only had a month left with Liam. That was not enough time. Although, the Devil was right, he was getting too attached to Liam. In the time Theo had spent with his target, he had grown so close to him. He was not ready to give it up, but what choice did Theo have? He knew it was his job to get Liam to kill himself, but Theo could not bear to see Liam die. However, he also could not bear to be apart from Liam. It was certainly a dilemma. Theo knew one thing for sure, he did not want to go the rest of the month with Liam still being mad at him.

Theo floated back through the window and sat next to Liam in class again.

“Hey, I know you’re mad at me right now. I know I went a bit too far, yesterday,” Theo said.

Liam gave Theo an angry look.

“Okay, okay, I know I went way too far, yesterday. The point I’m trying to make is, I’m sorry. Forgive me? Please stop ignoring me. Just nod or something if you’ll forgive me. Please? I’m really sorry.”

Liam sat as still as a statue for what felt like an eternity. However, eventually, he nodded subtly. Theo let out a sigh of relief. Theo smiled at Liam and Liam smiled back. If Theo was alive right now, his heart would have skipped a beat. Theo loved Liam’s smile. It turned Liam into a completely different person and made his face whole face radiate with happiness. It was at this moment that Theo knew that he could not hurt Liam. He would never be able to fulfill his job and get Liam to kill himself. He did not want to anymore. If that meant he only had a month left with Liam, so be it. Theo knew there was only one thing to do; make the most out of the one month he had left with Liam.

In what felt like a second, the month was almost over. Theo had one day left with Liam. It had been a good month. They had walked home from school almost every day, like usual. They had not gotten into anymore arguments. Theo stopped making suggestions about Liam killing himself. It felt like a normal month, however, the entire time, Theo could not stop thinking about the time limit. He felt like he could hear a ticking clock in his mind, reminding him that it would not be long before the time was up.

With the time limit being only a day away, Theo wondered if he should mention anything to Liam. He had been wondering about it for a while, if he should tell Liam about the time limit. He wanted to, but he could never muster up the courage to say anything. Feeling like this was his last chance, Theo decided to say something to Liam as they were walking home together for the last time.

“Hey, Liam?”

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“What would you do if I wasn’t around anymore?”

Liam chuckled. “I would rejoice, obviously. Then maybe people would stop thinking I’m crazy. What’s with the weird question all the sudden?”

“I don’t know. Just curious, that’s all,” Theo said, frowning.

“Is everything alright? You’ve been acting strange lately, even more so than you usually are.”

“It’s nothing,” Theo said.

Liam was surprised that Theo did not yell at him for calling him strange. He hoped Theo did not take what he said seriously. He would not actually rejoice if Theo was not around. Oddly enough, he enjoyed having the demon around. With Theo, he never felt lonely. Even if they did not speak to each other, Liam was still comforted by his shadow’s presence. He could not imagine life without Theo, at this point.

Theo was silent for the rest of the walk home and for the rest of the evening, as well. Liam got home, did his homework, helped prepare dinner, ate dinner with his family, and watched some television with his family. The entire time, Theo sat with him silently. Liam was worried that he was upset about something because of how quiet he was being. However, Theo was smiling for most of the night. There were a few occasions where Liam would look at Theo and see him staring off into space, looking depressed. Although, as soon as Theo noticed Liam looking, he would snap out of it and a grin would appear on his face again. Liam did not say anything about because his parents would think he was crazy. However, when he retired to his room for the night, he decided to ask about it.

‘What’s with you today? You’ve been so quiet. And you don’t usually stick around this late. Is there something bothering you?”

“I’m fine, Liam. Is it a crime if I want to hang around a little longer? If it’s bothering you, I can go—”

“No! it’s not bothering me. You can stay as long as you want. I was just worried about you, that’s all,” Liam said.

Theo smiled. “Thanks.”

There was an awkward silence for a minute before they fell into casual conversation. The hours flew by while they were talking. Theo was in the middle of a sentence when he noticed that Liam had fallen asleep. He had been sitting on his bed during the conversation, but he had fallen over and was now curled up on top of his bed. Theo sat smiling at him for a minute. Reluctantly, he got up to leave, but not before finding a blanket and carefully laying it over Liam.

“Goodbye,” Theo said quietly before fading away.


	6. Chapter 6

“Liam, get up, you’re going to be late for school,” his dad said as he knocked on Liam’s bedroom door. Liam practically jumped out of bed. He forgot to set his alarm because he had fallen asleep while talking to Theo. He knew he could not use the excuse that he stayed up late talking to a demon to get out of going to school, so he quickly got dressed and ran out of the house as quickly as he could.

When he got to the bus stop, he was completely out of breath. He was expecting Theo to make fun of him for being late, like he had in the past. However, he found that Theo was not waiting for him at the bus stop. “That’s weird, he’s never been late,” Liam thought to himself. The bus arrived and distracted him from his thoughts. As the school day went on, however, Liam worried about Theo more and more. He had no idea where his shadow could have gone. It was Theo’s job to stalk Liam. Liam did not know if demons got vacation time, but Theo had never taken a day off work before. Liam felt like a part of him was missing without Theo there. Subconsciously, Liam kept looking for Theo. He would scan every room he entered without even realizing it. Even Mason picked up on it. His friend cornered him between classes at one point.

“Hey, what’s up with you today? You seem super distracted.”

“I just didn’t get much sleep. It’s no big deal,” Liam said even though he knew Mason would probably pick up on the lie.

“Okay. Well, if you need to talk about anything, let me know, I’m here for you if you need me,” Mason said and patted Liam on the shoulder.

“Of course. Thanks.” Liam was grateful for his friend’s concern, but how was he supposed to explain to Mason that he was sad because a demon who had been haunting him for two months had disappeared, even though no one could see said demon in the first place? With Theo, Liam could talk about anything. Liam did not know what to do when the one person he wanted to talk to, was the reason he needed to talk to someone. Liam could not focus for the entire day.

The worst part of Liam’s day was the walk home. He was so used to walking home with Theo. Liam started talking to himself on multiple occasions, only to realize there was no one there to talk to.

When he got home, Liam left a note for his parents saying that he was not feeling well, so he was going to go to bed and sleep for the entire evening. That is exactly what Liam did. He fell asleep and stayed in bed until it was time to wake up for school the next morning.

Liam was hoping that Theo would be waiting for him at the bus stop like normal, however, he was disappointed to see that he was nowhere to be found, yet again. Liam felt just as lonely as the day before, without Theo. The day seemed to drag on forever. When Liam finally got home, he was hoping to go to bed immediately, like he had yesterday. He left a similar note for his parents before retreating to his room.

A few hours later, Liam was awake, lying in bed when there was a knock at his door.

“What?” He shouted, muffled by the blankets he was under. His parents entered the room, apparently taking his respond as an invitation to come in.

“Liam, get up, don’t pretend to be asleep, we know you are awake,” his mom said.

Liam groaned but slowly sat up in bed. “What do you want,” Liam said.

“Liam, don’t talk to your mother like that. We were concerned about you. Your friend Mason called and said he was worried because you wouldn’t answer his texts or phone calls. You haven’t talked to us at all, either. What’s gotten into you?” Liam’s stepdad said.

“I said I wasn’t feeling very good. I just want to sleep,” Liam said.

“Won’t you tell us what’s really going on?”

“I told you, I’m not feeling good. Can you please leave me alone so I can sleep?” with that, Liam flopped back down and hid his head under the covers. He heard his parents both sigh before they got up and left the room. Not long afterwards, Liam fell asleep.

It was the third day without seeing any trace of Theo. Liam did not know what to think. He could not exactly call Hell and ask about one of their employees. Liam was getting frustrated. He did not know how much longer he could take without having Theo around. He wondered if maybe Theo was never real, and was only a figment of his imagination. Maybe he was actually crazy. If he told anyone about Theo, they would certainly think he was. However, Liam refused to believe he was crazy. Theo was real, he knew it. Another thing Liam knew was that he missed his shadow. They had certainly become inseparable in the past few months. They were two sides of the same coin. Liam could not stop thinking about everything that had happened since Theo had come into his life. While he was reminiscing, Liam thought of a way he could be with Theo again. He was hesitant about his plan, but he knew what he had to do.

 

* * *

 

It had been three days since Theo was fired from his demonary position. Like Mephistopheles had threatened, Theo was assigned to alphabetize the Hall of Crippling Phobias. While Theo hated the idea of having to do this for all eternity, he knew that he made the right decision in leaving Liam. It still hurt to be away from him, though.

Theo was busy at work when the Devil walked in the room. “Hey, kid. How’s it going?”

“Fine. What do you want?”

“I just thought I’d let you know that there’s someone here to see you in my office. I’ll give you permission to take a quick break to see for yourself,” Mephistopheles said cryptically.

Theo was confused by what he said, but was excited to get a break. He stopped alphabetizing and started making his way to the Devil’s office. His office was where Theo first woke up when he had killed himself. It was also the spot that the Devil had first given him his job to get Liam to kill himself. He was curious to see who could possibly be there to see him.

“Liam?” Theo said as he opened the office door. Liam turned around and smiled at Theo. Theo felt like he was frozen. He could only stare in disbelief as Liam walked up to him. Suddenly, Liam practically jumped on Theo. Theo almost fell over from the strength of Liam’s hug. What surprised Theo was that Liam could actually hug him without his arms going through his body like thin air. When Liam pushed away from him, Theo was dumbfounded. He started stuttering and it took him a while before he could get a coherent sentence out.

“You’re here. But, that means. You didn’t—”

“I’m sorry, I had to. I realized that I couldn’t live without you,” Liam said.

“You’re an idiot,” Theo said as he hugged Liam again. “You’re such an idiot,” he repeated with his head buried in Liam’s shoulder.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end! Yay, happy ending, but they both ended up in Hell, so I guess you all can decide if it's a happy ending or not. I hope everyone who read this story, enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!


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